by J. L. Berg
No horrid dreams had chased me in my sleep, reminding me of the life I’d lost. I was peacefully nudged awake by the sunrise breaking over the horizon, and I felt more refreshed than I had in years. Spending an entire night dream- free and not without waking up, shaking and covered in sweat, could do a lot for a guy.
I felt like I could run a marathon.
But there was only one thing I wanted to do.
Find Mia.
My hands searched the sheets but came up empty, and my eyes opened to find myself alone in the room. Only her sweet smell was keeping me company. Through the paper-thin walls of Mia’s historic home, I heard the refrigerator open and footsteps downstairs. I quickly threw on my boxers and searched around for my shirt, but I couldn’t find it anywhere.
I shrugged and then jogged quietly down the stairs in search of my missing prize.
She was there, humming and singing to herself in the kitchen, as she was cracking eggs and then making coffee.
Her hair was pulled to the side in a loose braid, and she was in my shirt. My dick twitched at the mere sight of her in my clothes. I didn’t know how I’d stayed away for so long, but now that I had her, I couldn’t stop touching her. I wanted my hands on her every second of every day just to make sure she wasn’t a figment of my imagination.
I stepped into the kitchen until my chest brushed her back, and I snaked my hand around her waist.
“You stole my shirt,” I said against her hair.
She turned in my arms, and her eyes took in my naked chest. Her lip curved into a smile. “Yes, and look how well that worked out for me.”
Reaching behind her, I pushed away the bowl of egg mixture she’d been working on, and I hoisted her up onto the counter. She yelped out in surprise as I spread her legs and stepped between to close the gap between us.
“I was making you breakfast.” She stuck her lip out in an attempt to fake a pout.
I caught it between my teeth as my hands worked their way under the T-shirt she’d stolen. Shit, she could have it. It looked a hell of a lot better on her. But for now, it was going on the floor.
Her fingers made heated pathways along my abdomen. Like a forest fire consuming everything it came in contact with, I felt out of control, and Mia was my kerosene. After nuzzling her neck, I left a trail of kisses down her collarbone and over her breast until my mouth closed over that tiny pink bud. I sucked and licked, causing her to cry out, as my hand massaged her other breast. I repeated the process until I had her panting and begging for more.
She leaned back on her elbows on the counter and looked up at me. Her half-lidded gaze almost knocked me to the floor as she wrapped a leg around my waist and pulled me closer.
“You want me to fuck you on the counter, Mia?”
She nodded, but I wanted to hear her say it.
“Then, tell me,” I commanded, running my fingers under the waistband of her panties.
She bit her lip, making me almost lose my cool demeanor. I loved it when she bit her lip. I’d once taken her under the bleachers after a football game because she’d bitten her lip too much and distracted me during the game.
“I want you, Garrett,” she whispered.
“You want me to what?” I countered.
Mia had been raised in a very rigid house. She’d uttered her first curse word in my presence at the age of fifteen. It had taken hours and a dare to finally get her to do it. She’d been terrified that her mother would somehow hear her from ten miles down the street.
“Fuck me,” she said quietly.
“What? I couldn’t hear you.”
I bunched up her panties in my hand, waiting for her next response. I was playing the man-in-charge role well, but inside, I was dying. I needed to be inside her so damn bad that I was nearly vibrating, but I wanted to hear her scream it.
“Fuck me!” she cried.
In one swift motion, I ripped the panties from her body and slid the boxers from my body.
I slammed into her. “Like this?” I said through gritted teeth.
“Yes, God, yes!” she screamed.
I spread her legs wide and pulled her ass as close to the edge of the counter as I could without risking her falling off. She was still propped up on her elbows so that she could watch. Our eyes locked as I relentlessly pumped into her body, giving her everything I had.
But it wasn’t enough. I needed more. Wrapping my arms under her body, I pulled her up so she was facing me. Now we were touching everywhere. My hands roamed her waist, her breasts, and over every other inch of skin her body owned. Our lips fused together, and my tongue merged with hers, thrusting into her mouth, as my body continued to pound into her.
Her body gripped my cock like a glove, and I knew I wouldn’t last much longer. Just when I felt my balls tighten to the point of no return, she cried out as I felt her body squeeze my dick like a vise, and I was gone. I spilled into her, feeling like I’d just run that marathon I swore I could have done when I woke up.
We had worked up quite a sweat.
My forehead found hers, and I tried to find my breath again. She bent down and her lips brushed my chest, and she kissed it as she clung to me.
“Garrett, what are we doing?” she whispered.
I’d known this was coming. She’d fallen asleep in my arms last night, and while lying awake, tangled in her sheets and nuzzled against her, I’d tried to prepare.
“I don’t know, but I don’t want to stop.”
Her eyes lifted and met mine.
“I honestly don’t know what we are doing, Mia, but I know that I can’t walk out that door and go back to whatever we were doing before. I just can’t. I don’t know where this will take us, but I know one thing. I can’t seem to move forward in my life without you in it.”
Her gaze dropped once more, and her forehead fell against my chest. “You deserve better, Garrett, so much better,” she murmured.
I lifted her chin. “I don’t want anyone else, Mia. This turn in our relationship doesn’t mean it’s an instant fix for all past transgressions. I don’t know how to forgive you…”
She tried to look away, but I kept a firm grasp on her chin.
“But the difference now is that I want to. I want to forgive you. Let me try.”
Tears fell down her cheeks, and I carefully caught them with my thumbs and whisked them away.
“No tears, baby. We’ll figure this out,” I said with an encouraging smile I hoped she bought.
I was playing it by ear as much as she was, and I was probably just as scared. I had so much to overcome if we were going to make it through to the other side of whatever stood between happiness and us.
“So, what happens now?” she asked after the tears dried up.
I bent down and handed her back the shirt I’d thrown on the floor. “We take it one day at a time. Right now, you’re going to make me breakfast because I’m starving from that workout you gave me,” I said with a wicked grin. “Then, we’re going to go do whatever the hell you want for the rest of the day.”
She slipped the shirt over her head, and I silently mourned the absence of her breasts from my view, but it was nice to see her back in my shirt. I slipped back into my boxers and helped her off the counter. I held her in my arms a bit longer.
“Don’t you have to work?” she asked, glancing at the clock.
It was just after seven in the morning on a Wednesday.
“Yes, but I think I just came down with the flu, and it’s bad. I’m gonna need a day off, maybe two.”
She looked stunned as she hit me on the arm. “I’m appalled, Garrett Finnegan! Playing hooky? I thought workaholics didn’t take days off.”
Sliding my hands underneath the T-shirt so that I could feel her bare ass again, I laughed. “I think I’ve been a workaholic long enough, don’t you? Besides, I’ve never taken a sick day before. I want to see what all the fuss is about.”
“Hmm…well, lucky for you, I don’t have to work for the next two days,” she sai
d as her fingers danced along my chest.
“I know. I checked with Leah.”
Her eyes widened, and I chuckled.
“You checked up on me?”
“I did. I wanted to see when you’d be home, so I could drop off the flowers. We had a nice chat.”
She looked horrified, and I couldn’t help but grin from the torture I was putting her through.
“What did she say?”
“She said…”
“What, Garrett? Tell me!”
“She said you need to make me breakfast.”
I got a slap on the ass for that one, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
~Mia~
After Garrett called in sick, I made him a sorry excuse for eggs, and we retreated upstairs. He proceeded to take full advantage of my shower, making sure the door was wide open. He made a show of sliding his boxers down his firm ass as he waited for the water to warm. I finally caved and jumped in with him. We emptied the hot water tank while finding innovative ways to pleasure each other in the tight space. When I dropped down in front of him and took his hard length in my waiting warm mouth, he cried out my name and fisted my hair until he was shaking and shooting his release into the back of my throat. I gave him a grin and licked the tip clean before I climbed up his body. He pressed me against the wall and showed me his gratitude in many inventive ways.
He carried me out of the bathroom, wrapped in a fuzzy green towel, and he took time drying my hair and body, like I was the most precious thing in the world. He did it with such care and sensitivity, and I was nearly sobbing by the time his fingers left my skin.
I didn’t deserve any of his tenderness, any of his soft words or care, but I was taking it anyway. I was the worst kind of person. I was selfish and untrustworthy, but I couldn’t walk away again. A life without this man wasn’t living, and I’d spent too long living half of a life. Now that I’d felt what it was like to breathe again, I couldn’t fathom going back. I would hold on to him even if I didn’t deserve to.
There was so much he didn’t know, so much I should explain.
He deserved to know everything. But where should I begin?
“Where’s that lotion you always wear?” Garrett said against my ear after lying down next to me on the bed.
As he caressed my skin, I smiled, feeling a little giddy that he’d noticed the lotion I still wore. It was the same brand I’d worn since I was fifteen, and I’d never changed it.
“Mia, did you know that you always smell like oranges?”
I smiled but covered it up quickly as I turned in my seat to address him.
Garrett Finnegan did strange things to my body that I’d never experienced before. Whenever I was around him, my heart fluttered. It went beyond a crush, and the thought scared me.
“It’s my lotion. Does it bother you?” I asked hesitantly.
I’d bought it at this fancy store my mom had taken me to. I’d fallen in love with the fresh smell, and I’d secretly thought he would like it, too.
What if I was wrong and he hated it?
Oh God, did I smell awful?
“No, it makes me want to lick you.”
“You’re blushing,” Garrett said with a grin.
“I was thinking about that time you told me you wanted to lick me.”
His grin widened, and he pushed me down farther on the bed, so he could stretch out above me. “It drove me crazy. I’d sit in class and feel like I was swimming in it. It made my mouth water and my dick hard.” His nose moved down my neck as he left a path of kisses. “It still does, and now, I want to rub it all over your body.”
He hadn’t been kidding. He spent an hour rubbing the orange-scented lotion over every inch of my skin, paying special care to my breasts and the inside of my thighs. He rubbed his circles closer and closer to my core until I was begging him to touch me. By the time his fingers touched my clit, I was so wet and ready that I nearly exploded on contact.
It took us half the day to eat breakfast, shower, and drive over to Garrett’s, so he could change.
“So, what do you want to do for the rest of the day?” he asked before shoving a ham sandwich in his mouth.
Besides last night in the restaurant, the man never stopped eating. After he’d changed, he’d placed a soft kiss on my nose and then sauntered into his tiny kitchen where he whipped up two ham sandwiches.
“Oh, did you want one?” he said between bites.
I laughed and jumped in to make my own while answering his previous question. “I don’t know. Why don’t you pick the activity for the day? It is, after all, your first sick day. Better make it count,” I said with a wink.
He’d finished off his sandwich and moved on to a bag of chips as he thought for a moment.
“Hmm…are you sure you want me to decide?”
“Yep,” I answered.
“Okay, but you can’t complain.”
“I trust you.”
“Good. We need to stop back at your house for a bathing suit.”
A bathing suit? How bad could that be?
***
It was bad, really bad.
“Rafting?” I squeaked, looking at the tiny building with the large rafting sign displayed.
We’d broken off the main road and turned down a lone beaten path toward the James River. I’d figured we were going swimming or floating but not rafting.
“You know I don’t do rafts!”
“No, you just haven’t gone before,” he corrected.
“Yes, because I’m terrified!”
“Why?”
“Because the river moves, Garrett. It moves. I don’t want to be in a tiny inflatable boat, floating down the river, with no ability to turn around!”
He laughed and cupped my chin. “You’re being irrational.”
I folded my arms over my chest. “You’re being irrational,” I said, acting like a five-year-old.
His laugh turned into a smirk, and it was infectious. I couldn’t help but grin back.
“Fine,” I agreed. “But if I die, you’re going to feel really bad about it.”
“You’re not going to die, baby. You’ll have me, and for fuck’s sake, it’s the James, not the Grand Rapids!”
My stomach fluttered every time he called me baby. Besides renaming me Mia, it was what he always called me, and hearing him fall back into it so easily made my heart swell.
“Come on, let’s go inside,” he urged.
“Okay.” I was rewarded with a huge grin, one I hadn’t seen in ages, and it made me incredibly happy to be the one who had made him smile again.
With everything he’d been through in the last few weeks, he deserved to smile again.
We both hopped out of Garrett’s car, and he came around the back to walk by my side. His arm went casually over my shoulder, and I naturally melted into him, the two of us falling into a natural rhythm.
The door chimed as we entered the small rafting company. A few other customers milled around, waiting for the scheduled tour to begin. There was a small store set up with snacks, drinks, and a few rafting supplies.
Garrett looked down at my flip-flops and frowned.
“What?” I asked.
“You are going to lose the flip-flops in the water.” His eyes traveled around the store until he found a rack displaying water shoes.
“I’m fine,” I tried to argue.
But he hauled me over to the rack and started sorting through the shoes. He didn’t need to ask me what size I wore. He remembered, picking up a size seven in black and pink.
“Which color, baby?”
I started to disagree, folding my arms over my chest in protest, but he just rolled his eyes and bent down on the ground. He lifted my foot up on his muscular thigh, forcing me to balance on one foot.
“Pink or black, Mia?”
I let out an exasperated sigh, but its effectiveness was lost when my lips curved into a goofy grin.
“Fine. Pink.”
“Good choice. Very girlie
.”
He slipped my flip-flop off, and he began to help me put on the water shoes. He pulled the tag off, so he could pay for them whenever the store clerk decided to show up. He’d just finished putting on my right shoe when the store clerk, who was clearly not worried about theft, finally decided to make an appearance.
He was tall and lean, and as he turned around to greet everyone, I heard Garrett mutter a curse under his breath.
Brent’s eyes caught mine, and he instantly smiled. “Well, long time no see. Hello, Mia.” His eyes briefly met Garrett’s in greeting. “Garrett, good to see you again.”
Garrett didn’t say anything in return. He just continued to stare at Brent like he was the devil incarnate.
“So, here to take a trip down the James?”
“Uh…yes,” I answered.
“Good, I’ll be your guide.”
Crap.
“I thought you were in graduate school?” Garrett said with a menacing tone.
My fingers found his and weaved around them. I was hoping my touch would keep him from killing our rafting instructor.
“I am, or was. I just completed my MBA. I’d taken a few years off in between to work for my dad, but I figured it was time to spread my wings.” His white toothy grin grew—along with his arrogance.
Brent’s family came from the same social circle as mine. I’d known him far longer than Garrett, having attended social events with Brent since I was in grade school. His dad was a major player at a corporate bank, and Brent had wanted nothing more in life than to follow in his father’s footsteps.
“So, why are you here?” Garrett motioned to the run-down rafting business, which was about as far from the stuffy banking world as one could get.
“Oh, well, I love the river, and it’s a great way to stay in shape and meet beautiful women,” he said with a wink.
Garrett’s hand tightened on mine.
Brent pointed at our joined hands. “I thought you two were just friends?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but Garrett beat me to it.
“A slight oversight, which has been corrected—permanently. In fact, did you happen to hear anything last night as you were stepping out of the restaurant?”
